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Girl, 17, assaulted by police impersonators

Melanie Kembrey

A schoolgirl was indecently assaulted when a man and woman pretending to be police officers stopped and searched her using a German shepherd dog in Sydney's west on Monday.

The 17-year-old was walking to her Quakers Hill school about 10.40am when the pair, dressed in blue clothes, got out of a station wagon which appeared to have "police" written on the side.

Police said the man asked to search the girl and then retrieved a German shepherd from the back of the vehicle to assist him.

His companion also searched her and during the process she allegedly indecently assaulted the teenager.

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The pair, believed to be aged in their early 30s, didn't steal any of the girl's property.

Police said the Wyndham College student went home and told her father, who then contacted police.

Quaker's Hill police duty officer, Inspector Steve Gallagher, said there was a chance the incident might have been "some sort of prank like a one-off".

"Every now and then do you hear of people doing these things. It's not often they got to this extent dressed in blues and with a dog," Inspector Gallagher said.

"There's still some chance it may have been a bit of a prank. That's one possibility that lessens the risk to the public if that's all that it was."

In a separate incident in Mount Annan in Sydney's south west, two men robbed a house after pretending to be detectives and showing residents a fake police badge.

Police said a 66-year-old woman was washing up in her kitchen when she heard someone bang on the front door, ring the bell and call out "police" about 11.30pm on May 19.

She opened the door to two men who flashed a fake police badge and claimed to be police officers who had to execute a search warrant.

Two men, aged 40 and 68, who were also inside the house at the time were woken as the men searched the house.

The intruders stole cash and jewellery and said they would send a receipt for the items. They then searched two vehicles in the garage before walking from the home on Welling Drive and turning left into Persoonia Close.

The men are described as being of Caucasian appearance and having a slim build. The first man was 180cm tall while the second man was 165cm tall. Both men wore blue pants and blue shirts that may have had a logo.

Police are also investigating a similar offence that occurred in the early hours of the following morning.

Inspector Gallagher said no links had been discovered between these police impersonations and the indecent assault of the school girl yesterday.

Police want to speak with members of the public who saw the man or woman or the white station wagon they were driving.

The man is described as 180cm tall with short dark hair and olive skin, while the woman is described as 160cm tall with brown hair in a pony tail.

While police have issued a community warning following the incident, the number of charges laid over police impersonation has remained stable during the past five years.

Twenty five charges of impersonate a police officer were laid last year in New South Wales, according to the NSW Bureau of Crime Statistics and Research. In the past five years, 136 charges have been laid.

The maximum penalty for a person who impersonates a police officer and pretends to exercise a power or function as an officer is seven years imprisonment.